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Bolbitis
>i have recently aquired a species of bolbitis
>possibly heudeloth.
>
>what i would like is any ones war stories with
>the regard to growing and maintaining this fern
>successes and or failures
If it looks "fern-y" it is B heudelotti. B. heteroclita doesn't really
look like what we think of as a fern. To me, it looks like poinson ivy
when grown emersed. Forced to grow under water, the leaves are crinkled
and small. Assuming you have B. heudelotti, I find it a very undemanding
plant. I grow it in my son's poorly lit nutrient heavy Axolotl tank (where
it stays very small) and in a couple of 70G, well lit, CO2 supplemented
tanks that are regularly fertilized. What I find it doesn't do well is
compete. If you have a lot of fast growing plants in the tank, you'd
better feed well, or one of the first vicims will be the Bolbitis. If it's
well fed, it is robust, and can get VERY large. There seem to be two
varieties of B. heudelotti in the hobby. A smaller one with shorter
petioles and more curl to the leaves which prefers slightly softer water,
and a larger one with longer petioles and flatter leaves that prefers water
of at least moderate hardness as long as there is plenty of CO2 available.
In tanks with a CO2 shortage, the leaves tend to become quickly covered
with marl, and then turn black.
Karen